The present invention relates to a medicine supply apparatus that supplies medicines contained in a tablet case by the quantity specified by a prescription of a doctor, or that supplies and packs the medicines in a hospital, a pharmacy, or the like.
In hospitals or pharmacies, a medicine supply apparatus (tablet packing apparatus) has been conventionally used to offer medicines prescribed by a doctor to a patient. In such an apparatus, the medicines (tablets, capsules, or the like) in the quantity described in a prescription are discharged from a discharge drum (alignment board) in a tablet case (tablet containing/supplying body) one by one, then collected by a hopper, then discharged and projected into packing paper (medicine packing sheet) folded in half via a nozzle, and then packed per dose (e.g. see JP-A-H08-11805).
In the nozzle for discharging and projecting the medicines into the packing paper folded in half, there is provided a shutter for controlling projection of the medicines by opening/closing a medicine drop path in the nozzle. On the other hand, the medicine drop path in the nozzle is configured such that an outlet thereof is narrowed so as to enable projection of the medicines even into packing paper having a small depth (width). Consequently, there has been a problem that when discharging a medicine such as a long capsule, the medicine is blocked or caught in the nozzle.
The packing paper rolled into a roll generally has a substantially V-shape in cross section, i.e. the packing paper is generally open at its upper end and folded at its lower end (folded in half), and the nozzle is inserted into the packing paper from above. Consequently, there has been a problem that wrinkles or slacks occur on the packing paper depending on the size of the nozzle to thereby cause failure in packing condition.